Interview with Indian Shooting Guard Ranbir Singh

Gopal is an independent basketball writer based out of Bangalore whose articles have appeared in print publications such as Hindu Business Line, Fountain Ink and The Caravan. He also contributes to online platforms sportskeeda.com, tadpoles.in and The Alternative. Email: gopal@ekalavyas.com

Indian Shooting Guard Ranbir Singh Virdi from Punjab talks about his role in the team, following Coach Scott Flemming’s advice, his preference for transition dunks and his team’s chances against host side Nepal in tomorrow’s match as part of the 3rd South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Championship 2014 underway in Kathmandu, Nepal from 13th to 17th May.

Hindi to English Translation (by Adarsh Rao)

How did you think you performed today in the game? Are you happy with it? Ranbir: Yeah, I liked the game, I played the way the coach wanted me to play. I tried my best to play the way the coach was expecting me to play.

What’s the coach been telling you? What’s your role in the team? Ranbir: Everyone’s got their role, at post, shooting and drawing fouls, everyone’s trying to play their role accordingly. We try to play according to the moves made by the coach. Everything that he asks us to do.

In this match you flushed some dunks, was there some reason or did you do it just for the crowd? Ranbir: No no, I got a few chances on the fastbreak and it’s one of my qualities that I dunk well so I made them.

And tomorrow, there’s a match against the home team, Nepal. Will there be added pressure considering that the crowd will be supporting Nepal?Ranbir: Yeah definitely the crowd will support Nepal but hopefully we will be able to win because they don’t have the height advantage that we have. It’s their minus point and our plus point.

Could you give us any predictions about tomorrow’s game? If India wins, how much are they going to score? Ranbir: Haha I’m no guru to predict what the score will be, that depends on how we play. If we play well we’ll score more, if we don’t play so well the scores might be leveled. It’s not necessary that only we might win, if they play well they might just win. It’s a game, depends on how we play.